In from the cold

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This is the first winter that German-based composer Steven
Heather has spent at home in Melbourne in 12 years, so it's not
surprising that he is busy.

He has been working for the past month with choreographer Sandra
Parker on a new work for Dance Works, The View From Here,
which also includes the German writer and performer Siegmar
Zacharias.

After celebrating his grandmother's 90th birthday, Heather and
his partner will holiday in central Australia before coming back to
play in the band supporting the Japanese dance group, Karas, in its
performances of Green at the Melbourne Festival.

But for now all his energies are focused on his collaboration
with Parker. It began with conversations about five years ago when
she was in Germany, and took shape in 2003.

"We've been sending a lot of emails, while we were working on
different projects," he says. Finally he put some of his "sound
ideas" on to CDs for Parker and her five dancers to work with.

Heather, who graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in
1991, is now based in Berlin and works extensively with companies
in Germany, Belgium and Holland, including the Netherlands Dance
Theatre 3.

He usually returns home every two years, but not in winter.
Since this year's summer in northern Europe has been cool and
cloudy, he is glad to be in Melbourne.

He hesitates to describe himself as a composer, preferring the
to say that he creates a sound world using electronics. "It's a
tricky area and getting trickier," he says.

For The View From Here, he has pre-recorded different
elements that he will co-ordinate during the performances of the
five dancers, giving it a sense of being live.

"I expect it will progress during the season so that it could
sound different by the time we finish."

There is a chance the show will be performed in Europe next
year, which could mean the sound is very different, as Heather
would have to re-shape it for the tour.

The work, which was inspired by the distances between the
collaborators when they were creating it, emphasises cultural
displacement, disconnection and estrangement.

The scale of the collaboration is huge for a fringe project. As
well as the five dancers, there are also contributions from
Zacharias, video artist Margie Medlin and designer Anna
Tregloan.

"We all generate our own work but enjoy collaborating like
this," says Parker, who has been Dance Works' artistic director
since 1998.

The project has been made possible because of funding from Arts
Victoria and the Australia Council, which allowed Parker to spend
two weeks last June in Berlin's Sophiensaele, which specialises in
contemporary theatre and dance.

"It is part of a tradition that allows production houses to
develop new work from scratch," Parker says.

"We made lots of contacts and people came to see us about the
chance of going back next year."

She finds it hard to describe the impact of the show, which she
says operates on several different levels.

"It is part of a process of observing and constructing different
scenarios," she says. "Siegmar's stories suggest different ways of
being in the world and how we project ourselves into the past and
into the future."

She says Siegmar's role as a speaker is rare in her work, but is
crucial to The View From Here. "She is an alluring figure in
conversation with the audience while the dance is continuing."

Medlin's video images add to the sense of dislocation. "It
allows us to manipulate time, which is difficult to do with the
living body."

This is the first time in the past four years that Dance Works
is not taking part in the Melbourne Festival. "It means that we
might get a chance to see some of the overseas performers this
year," Parker laughs.

The View From Here opens at the St Kilda
Memorial Hall, corner of Albert and Ackland streets, St Kilda, on
Thursday at 8pm, until September 4. Book on 8290 7000.

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